How One Girl Is Using Tik Tok To Get Her Father Arrested For Kidnapping And Murdering Her Sister
Quick Synopsis of this case:
Ordinarily by the time you hear about a true crime case, its already on Netflix or some streaming service, or the the podcast is already a cultural phenomenon that everyone is talking about. Well the missing person case of Alissa Turney is the first case I've seen gaining steam and blowing up on the internet. Alissa Turney went missing in 2001. Her step father, Michael Turney, a former police officer, tried to tell people that she never came home from school, and that he found a note she had written saying she ran away from home to live with her aunt in California. Very quickly that story started to unravel, when everyone learned Michael had picked her up early from school that day, and she was never seen again.
When police ended up searching the Turney home for evidence, they found 26 home made pipe bombs and a manifesto about the union workers he was going to try to kill, as well as hundred and hundreds of hours of home videos of him creepily filming Alissa. He was easily convicted on the pipe bomb crimes and went to prison for 10 years, with the Phoenix Police Department promising the family that once he was out from the pipe bomb sentence, he would be tried for the disappearance of Alissa. Mysteriously 2 days before he was released from prison, the 2 detectives working on the case for almost a decade were reassigned, and once Michael was released from prison, the Phoenix PD said they had no evidence to arrest him with any charges.
Thats when Alissa's sister stepped in. Using Tik Tok, youtube, and her podcast, she started a grass roots movement to raise awareness and put pressure on local law enforcement and the FBI to act on this case. Its working. With over 700,000 followers, and armed with hundreds of hours of creepy footage of her father and her step sister, Sarah is turning this into the next great true crime pop culture phenomenon. Videos like this, where you hear Alissa warning Sarah her father is a pervert:
Or the creepy videos of her in the pool where Alissa is clearly using some sort of sign language to communicate to anybody who could help:
Or footage of him inexplicably watching his step daughter while she worked:
As well as literally EVERY MEMBER of the Turney family confirming he was a sexual abuser and believe he committed the crime. I truly believe this will be the next documentary you're streaming at home. Between the bizarre home footage, the pipe bomb/Unabomber type manifesto, the defiant ex-law enforcement suspect, and the severe lack of police work, this case checks every box for you to sit there yelling at your TV or phone saying "WHAT THE FUCK!?"
We've been talking about this case on Mailtime the last few weeks, and tomorrow's episode features an hour long interview with Sarah about what shes doing to try to have her own father arrested for murder. Absolutely one of the wildest interviews I've ever done. To point blank ask someone about the murder of their sister and looking for details on how her father was the murderer…for sure the most uncomfortable Ive ever been during a podcast. But Sarah is an absolute pro and dedicated to this crusade and handled it masterfully. Catch up on some of the more absurd details of the case here, and tune in to tomorrow's episode of Mailtime to help get justice for Alissa.